Improvement in self-acting switches



D ROWE.

improvementjn Self-Acting Switchesj No. 132,218. Patented Oct. 15,1872.

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UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID ROWE, OF JACKSONVILLE, ILLINOIS.-

IMPROVEMENT IN SELF-ACTING SWITCHES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 132,218, dated October15, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID ROWE, of J acksonville, in the county ofMorgan and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful 'Seli-Acting Railroad Safety-Switch; and I do hereby declare that the following isa full and exact description of the same, reference being bad to theaccompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to that class of switches which are held in oneposition to keep the main line open by means of springs, which yieldwhen necessary to permit the passage of a train from a side track ontothe main line;

and consists in the peculiar construction employed to hold the rubbersprings in place, as will be fully described hereinafter.

In the drawing a plan view of my improved switch is represented.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willnow proceed to describe fully its construction and mode of operation. v

A A represent the rails of the main line, B B those of the switch line,A and B being the movable rails, tapered down to flat pointsv Theoperation of this device is somewhat as follows: When the main line isopen the position of the switch pointsis as shown in full lines in thedrawing, and it will be here observed that though in this positionaccess to the switch line from the main line is impossible, yet cars maybe moved from the switch line to the main line, the points beingoperated automatically by the flanges of wheels. This will be understoodby supposing the arrow m in the drawing to represent the flange of awheel in position and its moving direction. Now, when the flange reachesthe point of convergence of the two rails A and B the spring I byielding to the force thus exerted between the two rails, the points Aand B are moved into the position shown in dotted lines and so helduntil the wheels have passed through, after which they return to theirplaces by the action of the spring I).

I do not broadly claim the employment of springsvto hold movable railsin place but Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim asnew, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the rod D having stirrup E with the rod F having nutsand washers, as described, and the rubber springs 60 and b, allsubstantially as and for the purpose set DAVID ROWE.

Witnesses WILLIAM H. S'roEcKEL, SMITH M. TITUS.

